As a sports dietitian, I am often counseling athletes on the importance of a healthy diet in maintaining a strong immune system to ensure consistent training year round. Today, I am going to share a second nutritional strategy that has been shown to boost immune health.

Swap unhealthy (saturated) fats in your diet for healthy (unsaturated) fats, which are both anti-inflammatory and immune boosting.

Instead of aiming for low-fat foods, aim to replace sources of saturated fat in your diet for healthy fats, especially omega-3 fatty acids, which support hormone production and help fight inflammation in order to keep our immune system strong.

More specifically, essential fatty acids (omega-3’s and Omega-6’s) play a role in the production of eicosanoids, a class of chemical messengers involved in your body’s immune and inflammatory response.

With the arrival of colder temperatures in the winter months also arrives cold and flu season. While it may seem like getting sick at some point is inevitable, there are many nutritional strategies that can be applied (year round, really!) to boost the strength of your immune system and decrease your chances. Today, I am going to share the first of many top nutritional strategies that have been show to boost immune health.

Consume a diet that is adequate in overall calories, balanced among the all three macronutrients, and rich in nutrient dense foods.

Chronic calorie deficit over time, whether through failure to meet needs or intentional dieting for weight loss, can lead to impaired immune health in that it decreases the energy available to support normal bodily functions. Calorie deficit without careful consideration of diet quality can also lead to insufficient intake of vitamins and minerals related to immune health, including vitamins C, E, B6, A and D, Folate, Iron, Selenium and Zinc.

Aim to include not only fruits and vegetables with each meal, but also quality lean proteins and whole grains too. A few high antioxidant foods to consider in boosting immune health include grapes, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, nuts and seeds, any dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes and other orange vegetables, beans, fish and whole grains!

Your Dietetics Career Plan

Its best to think of a career plan as a continually evolving structure. Our perspective and goals change as we gain experience over time. We need to continually evaluate our values and skills. Developing a career plan every couple of years is a way to explore available options and make desirable life changes.

The following is a summary of the five main components of a career plan.

1. A self-assessment

We need to learn about ourselves and the ways in which we have changed over time. Developing a new career plan allows for this by beginning with a self-assessment. Answer questions such as:

Which aspects of dietetics/nutrition interest me the most?

What skills have I acquired over the past few years?

What do I value most in my life?

How could my career address my top values?

2. Determining career goals

At this step, we will determine 2 to 4 career goals. This is an extension of our self-assessment and includes visualizing the future. Where do we want to be in 2 years from now? 5 years from now? and 10 years from now?

One easy way to do this is to imagine a typical day in our future.

How will I describe to friends and family what I do for a living?

Who will I work with?

How much time will I spend working?

What will my role be at work? (Will I be an administrator or an employee, a leader or a follower, overseeing or enacting?)

What will I love about my job?

How much money will I earn? (What kind of lifestyle will I be able to afford?)

How much responsibility will I have? (A lot, moderate amounts, or very little?)

Completing a small job search is helpful in expanding our perspective. Even if we are not currently looking for a job, this kind of search helps us recognize unique opportunities. After contemplation about the information we collected, we can develop our career goals. Here are some examples:

· Career Goal 1: My career will allow for work-life balance in that I will never work more than 40 hours per week, have flexibility to tend to family, have all major holidays off, and have 4 or more weeks of paid vacation per year.

· Career Goal 2: I will specialize in diabetes management.

3. A gap analysis

After we determine our goals, we need to determine the gap between ‘where we are’ and ‘where we want to be.’ This will help us determine education, experience, and skills needed to meet our goals.

Complete an online search and interview a few role models to determine the education, experience, and skill criteria needed to meet your goals.

Rate your current level for each of these criteria.

Here is an example: I want to be an expert in diabetes management.

a. I need formal/certification training, 1500 hours of experience working with patients with diabetes, and honed nutrition counseling skills.

b. I do not have formal training (CDE). I have ~50 hours of experience. I am new to nutrition counseling and would rate my skills as low.

4. Identifying needs

Apply the results from the gap analysis to identify training and experience needs. We may need more exposure to a particular clientele. We may need more education. We may need more leadership experience or to hone our communication skills. Review your gap analysis and identify at least 3 needs to work on.

Remember that we need support in order to grow. Some of our needs will include time, monetary support, and social support. Always ask employers for assistance to improve your professional expertise. Presenting them with a plan and a list of ways in which they will benefit are useful negotiating tactics.

5. Developing a plan

Finally, we will use all the gathered information to develop a plan of action. Now that we know our needs, we will find ways to meet those needs. We will research the steps it takes, the resources, and the pathway that is best suited for us.

Answer the following questions to help develop a plan.

How do I get certified as a diabetes educator?

How much does it cost? How much time does it take? What steps are required?

Where can I find the time, money, and self-guided experience to complete the certification?

Here are several ways that interviews can make you sick and how to avoid them:

Anticipation Anxiety

In our anticipation for the interview we worry, we stress, and we overthink. It is super easy to get nervous several days or weeks in advance. This anxiety leads to sleepless nights, skipped workouts, and stress eating. Our minds are filled with chatter, questions, and doubt. During this time, we stop taking care of ourselves, physically and mentally.

Making a plan and scheduling time to prep every day prior to the interview is the best way to reduce interview anxiety.

Our confidence grows with practice and education. So, learn about the organization/employer, the position, and yourself. Practice interview questions and answers aloud. Getting used to hearing your own voice aloud while honing the answers you provide builds interview confidence.

Interview Diet & Dehydration

Not only do we fill the days before the interview with an “off-brand” diet, but then we tend to eat abnormally on the day of the interview. Some of us eat a larger breakfast than normal while some of us skip it completely.

During the interview, we act as if we are on a first date and eat scarcely. We avoid any spills, slops, and unsightly mouth wrestling while chomping on our food. Since we spend most the time talking, we eat and drink sparingly. (It’s always best not to choke or hack up food when on an interview.)

This leaves us undernourished and dehydrated. Not ideal for performance time. To counteract, eat all meals and snacks as usual prior to the interview. At the interview, bring your own water bottle filled with a sports drink. A little extra glucose, electrolytes, and fluid will help handle the elevated cortisol levels and increased energy needs.

Playing the Quarterback

The mind games that we play afterward can make us sick. Like a quarterback, many of us tend to replay scenes of the interview over and over again. “Should I have said this? Did they find my joke funny? Was I wearing the right clothes? What did he mean by…?”

Many questions circulate in our heads. If we spend too much time dwelling, we can make ourselves sick. The best way to handle this is to schedule a time immediately after the interview to give yourself a synopsis or summary. In your car, put a 5 min timer on your phone and answer these questions:

· Overall, how do I feel?

· Do I think I got the position?

· Do I want the position?

· What did I learn from this interview that I will use in future interviews?

If you keep your thoughts on the big picture and focus on your gut feelings, then you will be able to avoid the hours of mental torture on trivial aspects. In the grand scheme of things, you either feel good or you don’t. Learn to trust your gut and accept what you cannot change.

Doubt

The underlying issue behind interview illness is doubt. Self-doubt leads to impulsive behavior and bad decisions. Your overall goal prior to the interview should be to build your confidence. There are a few ways to do this.

Recognize your ability and drive to learn. You are not supposed to know every aspect of the position at the interview. Employers would rather have someone who is eager and able to learn than someone who knows it all. Believe it or not, good employers want to train you and shape you. They want to know that you are flexible in learning and using their protocols and procedures.

Remind yourself that things always work out. Life is not going to end if you have a horrible interview. Applying for several positions and taking several interviews is going to help reinforce this notion. Remind yourself that you have always succeeded and overcome challenges in the past and you always will in the future. Your mind believes what you tell it. So, tell it that you are a wonderful person who always succeeds.

Do not limit your opportunities. Check out all of your options and compare them. Apply to several positions. Do not retract your application unless you had a dramatic life change since you applied. You can reserve your decision until after you are offered the job. If you are offered a job before you have completed other interviews, then ask for more time to decide (or request earlier interviews). It is okay to let your interviewers know that you have other interviews. You are not obligated to any one job until you accept it.

Notice that all of these requires certainty. Be certain in your decisions. Take your time, trust your gut, and do not get caught up in the small details. Have confidence in yourself. You will take care of yourself. You will be prepared. You will do well and you will make the right decision.